Bill would allow speed limit hikes

Published: Thursday, January 16, 2014 at 07:20 PM.

Brandes had requested speed studies on Florida’s state roads and highways, which showed the 85th percentile speed was “routinely ranging between 2 and 10 mph above the posted speed limit,” he said.

The legislation also gives FDOT greater flexibility on minimum speeds; the bracketing of speeds between upper and lower limit is important, Brandes said. The goal is to avoid cars traveling legally at 70 mph when there’s a minimum of 40 mph.

“The differential in speed there is what causes a lot of accidents,” he said.

AAA Auto Club Group in Florida lobbyist Karen Macfarland told the committee her group opposes the bill. She said 13 of the 16 states with speed limits of more than 70 mph have higher traffic fatalities relating to speeding than the national average.

“The facts clearly show that with our current speed limits our roads are safer,” she said.

State Sen. Greg Evers, R-Baker, took a jab at MacFarland, asking what speed she drove on the interstate. When she said 72 mph, he asked why, when the speed limit is 70 mph.

“That’s just where I keep my speedometer,” she said, as Prasad laughed about the question in the audience.

TALLAHASSEE — Floridians could speed down the interstate faster, if a measure in the state Legislature keeps trucking.

The Senate Transportation Committee on Thursday advanced a bill 6-1 that would allow the speed limit to be increased to 75 mph on interstate highways and to 70 mph on smaller highways.

The bill (SB 392) would not “require or recommend” raising speed limits; instead it would give the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) the option to increase the speed limits on a “case-by-case basis,” said bill sponsor state Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg.

Brandes said speed limits are already above 70 mph in 16 states, including two where the limit is 80 mph or greater.

This bill “would simply allow the department to have flexibility and to set (speed limits) based on research and science,” he said.

Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, who voted against the legislation, worried the bill would make Florida roads more dangerous.

“You know you can come up with a lot of logic as to why we should do this, but the highways of Florida are not the German Autobahn,” she said. “I just think it’s good where it is. I’m concerned about lives.”

She also criticized the bill because increased highway speeds negatively impact fuel economy. A staff analysis on the bill said raising the speed limit by 10 mph leads to a decrease in fuel economy by about 14 percent.

The bill would allow the 75 mph maximum speed limit on what it terms “limited access highways.” These are interstate highways such as I-10, I-75 and I-95, where vehicles use interchanges to enter the road.

Other highways such as U.S. 231 could see speed limit increases from 65 mph to 70 mph in some areas. The bill would allow the higher speed on four-lane highways with a median, provided they are “outside an urban area of 5,000 or more persons.”

The bill also would enable FDOT to raise the maximum speed limit to 65 mph on all other roads under its authority. That could include state roads such as 22, 20, 388 and others.

FDOT Secretary Ananth Prasad said the bill wouldn’t automatically change every interstate highway to 75 mph and there would be no “wholesale analysis” of every road Florida to see where speed limits could be increased.

Prasad said the state would rely on driver feedback and safety data to trigger a speed study, which would measure how fast drivers are going on a particular road, before limits would be increased.

Prasad said the national standard is that speed limits should be posted at the 85th percentile, meaning 85 percent of drivers are traveling under the set speed limit.

Brandes had requested speed studies on Florida’s state roads and highways, which showed the 85th percentile speed was “routinely ranging between 2 and 10 mph above the posted speed limit,” he said.

The legislation also gives FDOT greater flexibility on minimum speeds; the bracketing of speeds between upper and lower limit is important, Brandes said. The goal is to avoid cars traveling legally at 70 mph when there’s a minimum of 40 mph.

“The differential in speed there is what causes a lot of accidents,” he said.

AAA Auto Club Group in Florida lobbyist Karen Macfarland told the committee her group opposes the bill. She said 13 of the 16 states with speed limits of more than 70 mph have higher traffic fatalities relating to speeding than the national average.

“The facts clearly show that with our current speed limits our roads are safer,” she said.

State Sen. Greg Evers, R-Baker, took a jab at MacFarland, asking what speed she drove on the interstate. When she said 72 mph, he asked why, when the speed limit is 70 mph.

“That’s just where I keep my speedometer,” she said, as Prasad laughed about the question in the audience.

The bill has bipartisan sponsorship from Brandes and Lake Worth Democrat state Sen. Jeff Clemens, but no companion legislation in the House, for now. It must pass through two more Senate committees before it heads to the floor.